Leigh-Anne on going independent and her debut solo album: “You’re not going to tell me the kind of artist I should be. I know who I am”

Leigh-Anne Pinnock didn’t name her debut album ‘My Ego Told Me To’ on a whim – it’s a real statement of intent from the Little Mix singer-turned-solo star. Last year, after releasing a string of singles and her 2024 EP ‘No Hard Feelings’ with major label Warner, Leigh-Anne had an “awakening” that changed her career trajectory.

“I knew I needed to leave my label and go independent,” she tells NME when we meet at her publicists’ office in East London. “I was kind of butting heads with them, and it just wasn’t good.” So, Leigh-Anne poured all her “pent-up frustration” into a recording session with producer Clarence Coffee Jr. [Dua Lipa, Jessie Ware].

“I had so much to get off my chest,” she recalls. “And because I just felt so safe with [Clarence and his team], I literally told them everything that was going on. And ‘Dead And Gone’ and ‘Revival’ came out of that. Both tracks have such a different energy compared to anything I’ve done before – and more confidence as well.”

Leigh-Anne isn’t exaggerating. “Blowin’ up the past, drop a rose for the shy girl, I’m hot-blooded and cold,” she sings over a loping reggae beat on ‘Dead And Gone’. “I was like, ‘I really like this version of myself and need to bring it more to the forefront,” Leigh-Anne says.

Now, these two tracks form the bedrock of ‘My Ego Told Me To’, her debut solo album out today. It’s a cohesive collection rooted in the reggae of Leigh-Anne’s Jamaican and Barbadian heritage, but also flecked with pop, dance, R&B and rock. Throughout, Leigh-Anne reconnects with her unfettered teenage self: the driven dreamer from High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire who knew she was destined for pop stardom.

“I guess you could call her an alter ego, but she is basically that young girl who went for The X Factor, dyed her hair red, and wouldn’t listen to anyone who tried to tell her no,” she says. Auditioning for The X Factor in 2011 changed Leigh-Anne’s life forever. The judges placed her in a fledgling girl-group alongside three other hopefuls – Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Jesy Nelson – and Little Mix was born.

After winning the show, they went on to rack up 19 UK top 10 singles and seven UK top 10 albums before going on hiatus in 2022, two years after Nelson left the group. But along the way, a constant stream of toxic social media comments and the pressures of being in a high-achieving pop group gradually chipped away at Leigh-Anne’s confidence.

Now, after a tricky start to her solo career, Leigh-Anne is in charge of her destiny once more. It’s no coincidence that she’s dyed her hair red for the ‘My Ego Told Me To’ album cover and promo campaign. In a candid In Conversation interview, she talks about finding her sound, reclaiming control and the “fighter spirit” that Little Mix gave her.

Hi, Leigh-Anne! So, first up, which song on the album do you think will surprise people the most?

“I just think the whole album… There’s so much variety on there and I am a very versatile artist, but at the same time, I think there’s a sort of reggae-leaning sound that is the footprint for the album. I found my thing, my lane, and that was my main goal. Like, what do you want to say? How do you want this to sound and feel? And I just feel like I’ve got there.

“But if I had to choose one song, I’d maybe say ‘Look Into My Eyes’ because it’s very unexpected. It’s the first song on the album and I love how it starts with this reggae sample feel, and then it just hits into, like, a four-to-the-floor sort of thing. That [switch] really comes out of nowhere. And for me, that song is all about taking up space and being unapologetic. It’s like: ‘If you’re with me, you’re with me; if you’re not, see ya. I’m gonna do me.'”

“I wanted people to know who I am and my heritage”

Let’s talk about another standout track from the album, ‘Revival’. I feel like if you were a wrestler, this could be your ringwalk song.

“I love that. And I love wrestling as well. Yes, ‘Revival’ is all about taking back control. And I guess it’s [also about] not letting people tell you what they think you should be. It’s about trusting myself and realising that I’ve done so much to get to this point, so you’re not going to tell me the kind of artist I should be. I know who I am. And I’m reclaiming that power again.”

Was it harder to assert yourself in that way because you have a track record? Because the way the industry would see it is: ‘Little Mix were successful, so that’s what Leigh-Anne should be doing musically.'”

“Oh my gosh, yes. And there were all these expectations over my shoulder to be as successful as the group. Like, what does that even look like? How is that even possible? You know, coming into the solo journey, it should have been one of the funnest times of my life – one of the most amazing times. And I shouldn’t have had that pressure, because we’ve done it [as a group]. Like, this is now for me. Obviously, I want everything to be successful, but this is my chance to do the music that I love. So yeah, I think that was a big thing [to get across].”

One of my favourite tracks on the album is ‘You Are A Star’, an interlude featuring your grandparents. What made you want to include them? It’s such a sweet moment.

“I wanted people to know who I am and my heritage. Like, why have I decided to have an album rooted in reggae? Why has she done this? And having my grandma say, ‘You are a star – when you went for The X Factor, that’s what you said to me’, is just so key to my story because that’s my ego, that’s my younger self.

“And then with my grandad, I really wanted him to say what makes a Pinnock strong. Because we’ve always had this thing in our family – we’re quite patriotic of our surname. It’s like, ‘If you’re a Pinnock, come on, you can do this.’ So I wanted to know, like, ‘Where did this [attitude] come from?’ So I just said, ‘Grandma, can you please get a voice note from grandad?’ And then she said what she said, and it became this really beautiful moment.”

That drive you had from a young age, which your grandma talks about, where did it come from? Did you always know you wanted to be a performer?

“It’s interesting, because I was so shy as a child – like, I would hide behind my dad’s legs and say, ‘I hate people’. I was so painfully shy, but I had this little voice and just wanted to sing. So I just knew in my heart that I had to overcome this fear. I’d always look at the floor and have the backing track too loud [when I sang], but it was something that I really worked at, putting myself out there at talent shows and whatever else. And I guess as I got older, and into secondary school, I built a lot of confidence. Like, I was always the one doing debating class and standing up for my friends.

“I guess I had a lot of fire and determination. And anyone that I met, I told them I was going to be a pop star. I was seriously deluded! I’d write Facebook statuses like: ‘Leigh-Anne is going to be a star. Leigh-Anne is going to be rich one day. Leigh-Anne is going to be performing at Madison Square Garden.’ I didn’t listen to anyone who had anything to say against that. I didn’t care, and I just went for it. And now [I look back and think] ‘OK, that was that girl.’ And then I got into the group and my dream came true. And then slowly it started to trickle away, that sort of energy. So I just knew I had to bring it back.”

“I want everything to be successful, but this is my chance to do the music that I love”

Artists who come from a reality show tend to face a certain stigma, and actually, girlbands can face that stigma anyway. At what point did you feel that Little Mix were finally being taken seriously?

“It’s so funny. You know, we were talking earlier about how people used to look at pop music as well – like, it wasn’t cool. Sometimes it felt like there was nothing we could do to make people realise that we were incredible artists. Like, ‘We write our own music. Look how hard we work.’ We had to work ten times harder. And I just think it’s quite a different day and age now, isn’t it? And I wonder what it would be like if we existed now. I’m pretty sure we would have had a Grammy by now – things like that, you know?

“But then, I also feel like all of that [struggle] gave us the fighter spirit that we all have now, and we’re all still humble as well. Like, not to blow my own trumpet, but we are all normal [people]. And I think that comes from having good people around us, too. So actually, I look back on our career and everything we did, and I really love that it went the way it did.”

Finally, we asked JADE this question as well, but if any Little Mix song could pop off on TikTok, which would you like it to be?

“Do you know what: ‘No More Sad Songs’. I mean, it still did very well [at the time], but I think for that song to have another little life would be nice.”

Leigh-Anne’s ‘My Ego Told Me To’ is out now via Virgin Music Group.